Wendy Bisaro

Thanks very much for that update. Good to hear. I wanted to also go back to the issue of bandwidth and the demands that are being placed on our system, particularly because of education and health. I’d like to ask the Minister or the DM what the plans are for the department to accommodate our ever-expanding needs for IT. Thank you.

Right on. That is good to hear. With regards to the projects scheduled for this year, Fort Good Hope and Inuvik schools, are they still in the plans to be demolished in 2011-2012? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Guy. I guess I would like to know if there is going to be any sort of an evaluation of the pilot project prior to sort of expanding throughout the rest of the Government of the Northwest Territories systems. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple of comments. I’ll start with the Minister’s statement that we’ve changed how we plan and acquire public infrastructure and made changes to the capital planning process. I think I said last year, and possibly the year before, that I’m really pleased that we’ve made these changes. I look forward to hearing from the Minister in this second year of the new capital planning process whether or not he thinks that it was a beneficial move. I know that was his opinion last year, but we had a hugely busy construction season in 2010-2011 so I’d be interested to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that, notwithstanding Rule 4, when this House adjourns on Thursday, February 24, 2011, it shall be adjourned until Monday, February 28, 2011;

AND FURTHER, that any time prior to February 28, 2011, if the Speaker is satisfied, after consultation with the Executive Council and Members of the Legislative Assembly, that the public interest requires that the House should meet at an earlier time during the adjournment, the Speaker may give notice and thereupon the House shall meet at the time stated in such notice and shall...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I guess I’m just not quite clear. I’d like to ask again, he mentions a national initiative. Is the Minister saying that nationally across the board all provinces and territories are working on something and that we are part of that? Because there are Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec who currently have their own legislation.

The Minister referenced a policy within the Department of Justice. My concern, I guess, is for employees outside of the GNWT. If someone in a private firm feels they are being harassed or bullied, what recourse do they have to try and make their workplace situation more tolerable?

Mr. Chairman, you are planning for a deficit of half a million dollars, so this is actually a good thing. I guess, then, maybe we should revise the description at the top of the page. Half a million deficit isn’t breakeven to me. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have an excellent education system here in the North but it’s not quite working as it should. One only has to look at the 2010 student assessment results released by the Department of Education in January to know that. For the 2009-2010 school year, the highest percentage of students working at or above grade level in English Language Arts was 81 percent. That was for grade 1. The numbers, unfortunately, go downhill as the grades go higher. Interestingly enough, the numbers for students functioning at or above grade level in Mathematics is higher than for English.

Edu...

Thanks very much for that update. Good to hear. I’m just wondering, in terms of distance education, my understanding is now that it’s well nigh impossible in some places, certainly the smaller communities, for the students to try to do distance, it takes literally up to hours to download the materials that they need for distance learning. With this new system, is that going to be improved? I suspect it probably won’t go away, but will it make it that much easier for particularly high school students to do distance education? Thank you.